Professor Maxine Whittaker is a public health physician and health systems researcher. She has worked closely over the last 17 years on health and community systems strengthening for vector borne disease prevention, surveillance and response, management, and advocacy work, as well as policy translation from implementation research to support programme implementation at all levels and intersectorally. Her focus is on improving the health systems and services to increase accessibility and acceptability of quality services to populations, gender equality, disability and social inclusion (GEDSI) and use of a One Health approach.
Since 2021 Professor Whittaker is the Civil Society Representative for the Global Fund Regional Artemisinin Initiative Greater Mekong Subregion (pro bono) Regional Steering Committee. She has broad engagement with civil society groups globally such as Rotary against Malaria, CS4ME, RBM Partnership to End Malaria (Community Monitoring and Evaluation Group) and a member of the Australian Global Health Alliance, Women in Global Health, and Expandnet. She was the founding Co-Secretariat for APMEN (Asia Pacific Malaria Elimination Network). She is the Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Vector Borne and Neglected Tropical Diseases, the Chair of their Technical Advisory Group on Reaching Unreached Populations of the Western Pacific Region of World Health Organization, Senior Editor of the CABI One Health Editorial Board and a member of the Independent Review Panel of the Asia Pacific Observatory on Health Systems and Policies.